After six years Withered comes back with the brand new album entitled “Grief Relic” which promises to be the band’s darkest musical endeavor.

“Leathery Rind” focuses on crushing guitar riffs, furious growls and an oppressively dark rhythmic core. If the main stylistic elements evoke the chaotic anger of death metal the overall atmosphere evokes some aggressively primordial black metal roots.

“A Realm Of Suffering” maintains the same brutal essence but adds some fast blackened guitar leads and a doom oriented breakdown that deliver a certain dose of melodic decadence.

“Husk” has a moody asphyxiating atmosphere portrayed again with a concretely hectic mixture of ferocious death metal riffing and drumming and the ominous depth of old school doom metal.

“To Glimpse Godliness” holds a steady dark monolithic vibe that leads to a scorching fast black metal core while the slower sections deliver some melodic accents.

“Grief Relic” might not showcase outstanding bursts of creativity or some definite signs of an epic musical evolution nevertheless Withered manages to deliver a cohesive fierce piece of extreme metal.